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MANILA (AFP)--Filipino Islamic guerrilla reinforcements have
sailed for Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, one of their leaders said Wednesday.
The fighters will support their compatriots following Jamalul Kiram III
engaged in a three-week standoff with Malaysian security forces. Mr. Kiram, 74,
claims to be the sultan of Sulu on Borneo. His followers are trying to reclaim
the land.
The unknown number of guerrillas are veterans of the Moro
National Liberation Front.
"Many have slipped through the security
forces. They know the area like the back of their hands because they trained
there in the past," leader Muhajab Hashim said.
"MNLF fighters are
adherents of the sultan; we are followers. So there is more than an alliance,"
he said. "We feel very strongly against the attacks against our brothers from
Sulu." The MNLF hasn't officially told the guerrilla's to go but it fully
supports the sultan reclaiming the Malaysian state.
"We are expecting
more of them to join even if our official instruction is for them to refrain
from going," Mr. Hashim said.
Malaysia and the Philippines have
established naval cordons to try and stop guerrillas sailing to Sabah.
Malaysia launched an air and land offensive on Tuesday to end the
conflict. However, the sultan's aides said in Manila as many as 300 militants
had escaped Tuesday's attacks.
The Sulu sultanate's power faded about a
century ago but it has continued to receive nominal Malaysian payments for Sabah
under a lease deal inherited from European colonial powers.
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